[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: good morning everybody. happy thursday. what do you say? it is thursday, october 25, 2012. welcome to the "full court press." here on current tv. your new progressive morning show. where we will bring you up to date on what's happening here in our nation's capital around the country, around the globe. i'll tell you what's going on and give you a chance to weigh in yourself and sound off on the issues of the day. you can do so by giving us a call at 1-866-55-press. and how about that big october

bombshell dropped yesterday. donald trump promising he would give $5 million to any charity if president obama would just release his passport records and his college transcripts. guess what! i will give $10 million to any charity if donald trump will just shut up and go away! of course, i won't lose $10 million because he'll never shut up. we'll get into that and a whole lot more. first we start with getting the current update. the latest current news roundup from lisa ferguson out in los angeles. hi lisa. good morning. >> hey bill. good morning everyone. john mccain is unendorsing richard mourdock. the indiana senate candidate is underfire this week for calling rape pregnancies an intentional gift from god. coincidentally, mourdock is the only senate candidate mitt romney has endorse and cut an ad

for this season. he just released the ad in support of mourdock monday and the rape comments came tuesday night. mccain said he will no longer support mourdock unless he apologizes for those remarks but most republicans are staying in mourdock's corner. santorum is saying it is gotcha politics and romney says while he does not agree with his statements, he supports him for senate. president obama discussed the issue yesterday in an interview with jay leno. the interview was not all serious. the two took a lighter tone when discussing donald trump. >> what's this thing with trump and you? it's like me and letterman. what's he got against you? >> obama: you know, this all dates back to when we were growing up together in kenya. >> trump said he'll donate $5

million to a charity of obama's choice if he releases his records. back with more bill after the break. (vo) answer in a moment. (vo) brought to you by courtyard.

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[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation, on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: well, donald trump found a way to keep himself in the news in this story who cares. good morning everybody. it is a thursday. thursday, october 25. so good to see you today. and thank you for joining us here on the "full court press." we are your morning progressive talk show. the next three hours we'll tell you what's going on all around the globe starting here in our nation's capital.

that's where you'll find us. our studio on capitol hill in washington, d.c. we'll bring you up to date on all of the news of the day and give you many chances to weigh in because you can do so by phone at 1-866-55-press. you can join us on twitter at bpshow. you can join us on facebook. facebook.com/billpressshow. or you can join your fellow political junkies all around the country by joining the chat room. go to current.com. click on the chat room then you'll be connected with your "full court pressers" all across the land and get your own little debate and conversation going there. lots of fun every morning. however you join us, whether you're listening on sirius x.m. or watching on current tv, welcome, welcome to the program. lots going on. join me in welcoming our team as always this morning. led by peter ogborn and dan

henning. hello, guys. >> hey hey. >> good morning. >> happy thursday. >> bill: phil backert has the phones. cyprian bowlding our videographer making sure the lights, camera action are all working. >> takes a lot of work to make us look this good. >> bill: speak for yourself. [ laughter ] >> bill: what's going on? >> happy to be here. >> bill: big night for the giants last night. >> was it ever. >> bill: they came out of the box -- do they play another game in san francisco before they move? >> they do. details in two minutes. >> it was a monster game. >> bill: a monster start. boy, the detroit -- detroit was -- they're a hot team. >> granted the yankees are older and hobbled and all of that but they beat them in four games. >> bill: justin verlander they started with him we'll shut down the giants -- >> start with the best. >> bill: boy everybody's got a bad night.

certainly had one last night. joe biden had a good day yesterday. he's been out on the campaign trail, raising hell and yesterday out in i have vegas, he was there with leader harry reid, a baby interrupted joe's comments. >> i don't blame that baby for crying. [ laughter ] you know what? she just realized what it means if romney gets elected. god love her. >> bill: god love her. that's my delaware. i hear that all the way in my family. he doesn't know any better. god love them. >> bless his heart. >> bill: bless his heart. that's another one right. what a line-up we've got for you today. barbara leigh, the great liberal congresswoman from oakland california is going to be along a little bit later as well as stephanie, the head of emily's list great organization

promoting pro-choice democratic women for offices everywhere, state and local and federal office. dave zirin our own sports guy will be along to talk about them giants. but first -- >> this is the "full court press." >> on this thursday, other headlines making news, we'll start with the giants. world series game one last night. san francisco beat the detroit tigers 8-3. thanks to pablo sandoval hitting three home runs. he becomes the only fourth player in history to ever pound three homers in a world series game along with reggie jackson babe ruth and albert pujols. >> he's in good company. that's decent company. >> bill: they have put him right in the -- they should put him right in the hall of fame. >> detroit pitcher justin verlander gave up five runs in four innings of work. game two in san francisco. baumgartner takes the mound for the giants. >> bill: i saw when the pitching coach came out to talk to verlander.

they've never seen that before because verlander is so good. they figure we might as well take a nap now because we know this guy won't have any trouble. >> he's had problems in the world series. as good as he is during the regular season, he's had problems with the world series. he did last night. >> more celebrities speaking out in support of president obama yesterday. david crosby and graham nash of crosby stills and nash telling cbs we cannot let mitt romney be president at all saying it would be a complete disaster mostly because of his stances against women, the imbalance of the haves and the have nots and his lack of knowledge on foreign policy. >> bill: two classic great liberals still at it. >> a judge from the hit series top chef was in washington yesterday to announce a new initiative to grade lawmakers on their food votes. "d.c. examiner" reports bravo tv's tomicallicio introduced the scorecard to look at how members

of congress vote on hunger, food safety and farm issues. he says he also has his eyes on president obama and governor mitt romney saying he found it very interesting that not one food or hunger-related question was asked of the candidates in any of the recent debates. >> that is interesting. >> bill: it is. it is not an issue at the forefront of public policy issues but it should be. >> we've had several food safety issues in the last year. >> bill: food safety issues and the whole question of hunger. how many americans go to bed hungry every night. well maybe in the next debate -- that's right there aren't anymore debates. let's start off this morning talking about leadership. we certainly expect leadership from the leader of the free world, right? that's what we want in a president. but you know we also expect it from a candidate for president of the united states. you can't wait until you get to the oval to start showing signs

of leadership and what you do as a candidate seems to me has a lot to say with what we can expect from that person once he or she gets in the oval office. given that, mitt romney had two great opportunities to show some leadership yesterday and he bombed on both. flunked on both! blew both opportunities. let's start with richard mourdock okay. we talked a little about this yesterday. richard mourdock, republican senate candidate out in indiana up against great democratic candidate joe donnelly and richard mourdock who in the debate, with joe donnelly, said he would not -- he would not allow an exception to a ban on abortion in case of rape because if you get pregnant through a rape, that's just as good as getting pregnant any other way. that's what god had in store for

you, honey. >> i believe that life begins at conception. the only exception i have for -- to have an abortion is in that case of the life of the mother. i struggled with it myself for a long time. i came to realize life is that gift from god. even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that god intended to happen. >> bill: he's tearing up there. i think he's tearing up because he sees his chance of going to the united states senate flying out the window. let's talk about how outrageous and unacceptable and outrageous, ridiculous that statement is. but yesterday, he came out again and he -- first of all he says well, i mien you would think -- you would think the first thing he would do is apologize for such a stupid remark. no, no, i can't because that's what i believe. >> i spoke from my heart. for speaking from my heart, from speaking from the deepest level of my faith i cannot apologize.

>> bill: can't apologize. in other words, he's saying this is it. this is what i believe. yes, i said it. yes, i stand by it. in other words i'm in a hole and i'm going to dig the hole deeper. then he goes in the classic thing -- but now joe donnelly and all of the democrats all they're doing is just twisting my words. >> to twist and suggest that somehow i was saying god approves of rape is the wrong thing because that's not what i was saying. it is not what i intended. if anyone came away with that, i apologize they were able to make that interpretation from my less than fully articulate use of words. >> bill: wait a minute. didn't i just hear him apologize when -- he said i can't apologize? >> oh, man. this guy is a disaster. >> bill: total disaster. >> he is a disaster! >> bill: total total embarrassment, disaster colossal. here is the mitt romney test. mitt romney has endorsed richard

mourdock. mitt romney cut a tv ad for richard mourdock. we played it for you yesterday. the only tv ad for any senate candidate for richard mourdock. what did mitt romney do yesterday? he stood by richard mourdock. that was a test of leadership. the test of leadership would be to repudiate what mourdock said to say this is not what we want in this party. this is not who we are as republicans. instead, romney stood by richard mourdock. so did paul ryan. in fact, i would say the reason mitt romney cannot disassociate himself from richard mourdock is because of paul ryan because he's a running mate who is every bit, every single bit as extreme as richard mourdock. what todd akin believes and what richard mourdock believes, paul ryan believes. they're all buddies on these issues. and they're soul mates on these

issues. first test. second test, donald trump. out yesterday. i thought -- >> this is like a bad joke. >> bill: i thought we heard the last of donald trump. for three or four days now, he's been saying i'm going to drop a bomb on wednesday. this is the end of the campaign. it is going to destroy barack obama. wait until you hear this. this is it. built it all up. here he comes with the great -- this is the bombshell. his proposal. >> if barack obama opens up and gives his college records and applications and if he gives his passport applications and records, i will give the charity of his choice, inner city children in chicago american cancer society a.i.d.s. research, anything he wants a check immediately for $5

million. >> he kind of gags as he's saying the names of the charities like it's the last thing he wants to be talking about. education in inner cities, a.i.d.s. -- >> bill: by the way, how much money has he given to those charities already? >> yeah, right. >> bill: just a clown. total, total goof ass clown donald trump right? condemned yesterday. i would say -- condemn -- ridiculed yesterday by everybody on the right and on the left. ridiculing donald trump saying get away from here. you clown! everybody except mitt romney. here he is again. test of leadership. did mitt romney stand up and say this isn't what politics is all about. we shouldn't even be talking about it. no. mitt romney remained silent. why? remember because donald trump was once -- all right don't forget, the leading candidate the leading republican candidate for president. he was the number one choice in the polls. not so long ago in the

primaries. and then mitt romney made a special trip to las vegas to pick up the donald's endorsement. >> it's my honor real honor and privilege to endorse mitt romney. >> bill: mitt slobbered all over himself saying how honored he was to have this endorsement. >> romney: i'm so honor and pleased to have his endorsement and of course i'm looking for the endorsement of the people of nevada. >> bill: what a team they make. there it is. two opportunities right richard mourdock, did mitt romney repudiate him? no. donald trump. did he repudiate him? no. mitt romney, no leadership. no guts. no backbone. and i think it shows that mitt romney is just a captive of the extremist right of the republican party and of the looney toons side of the republican party.

>> kelly ayotte from new hampshire was supposed to appear with richard mourdock yesterday. republican senator. after he made those comments, she said uh-huh. i'm not going to appear with you. you're insane. she didn't say he was insane but she said i'm not going to appear with you. why can't mitt romney? >> bill: because she's got a set of balls and mitt romney does not. that's what it's all about. 1-866-55-press. i think this says a lot, a lot about romney. look we knew trump was a jerk and we know richard mourdock is such an extremist. we see a lot about mitt romney here. no backbone. no courage. no leadership. let's talk about it. 1-866-55-press. >> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress. this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv.

(vo) always outspoken, now unleashed. joy behar. >> on my next show, actress, activist, and flyest of the fly girls, rosie perez, generates so much heat, al gore will have to look into it.

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>> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 25 minutes after the hour. the "full court press," mitt romney refusing to repudiate either richard mourdock or donald trump. peter, what have we got on twitter. >> we're tweeting at bp show at bp show on twitter bill writes in why are you giving a loser like donald trump the coverage? you're doing what he wants making him the center of the conversation. >> bill: we're talking about mitt romney. mitt romney. why won't mitt romney repudiate this clown?

>> travis moss also writes in you guys should already know that mitt will denounce and stand behind mourdock's comments. that's how romney will do it. >> bill: he did say about mourdock i disagree with his comments but i still stand by him and want him in the united states senate because he's just like paul ryan. it is ryan, akin, murdoch. all one in the same. >> one other which can comment which i thought was amusing. blue rabbit says trump's october surprise came out yesterday which happened to be national baloney day. it really was. every day is about a holiday. yesterday was national baloney day. >> bill: any time donald trump talks, it is national baloney day. hi joey. >> caller: these republicans have they ever seen the inside of the school they went to when they were children? i can't believe they did. rape is a violent act. if you ever seen a picture of a

woman after she was raped her head is the size of a pumpkin because they get the hel beat out of them. i cannot stein these republicans. mitt romney, shame on you. you gotta stand up for these women and denounce these hypocrites and these cowards and these psychos. these republicans are off their rocker. >> bill: you got it, joey. this would have been -- this could have been a sister soldier moment, if you will, for mitt romney to stand up and say this is wrong. this is not what the republican party stands for. this is not who we are. and i don't care if he's a republican or a democrat, this is disgusting. no. he didn't do that because he doesn't have any character. he doesn't have any courage. katherine is out in seattle washington. hi katherine. >> caller: good morning. >> bill: early good morning on the west coast. what's up? >> caller: i enjoy your show. >> bill: thank you so much.

>> caller: as as far as donald trump, barack obama should take him on and show him his passport and other things as soon as mitt romney turns over hiss 2000-2010 tax returns. >> bill: that's a good point. talk about transparency. donald trump saying that barack obama is the least transparent president in history. even that is funny. do you think george washington and thomas jefferson released their college transcripts? >> oh, sure. sure they did. >> bill: but here's mitt romney who still refuses to release his freakin' tax returns. okay. i'll give $5 million to charity if mitt romney will release 12 years of tax returns like his daddy did. more calls coming up. quick break next to talk sports with dave zirin. then back to mitt romney. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

but he said -- exactly what ed is talking about is pile up more and more debt. pile up more and more debt and to miss my show is if that's the only time you can get to a polling place. make sure that voting is your highest priority on election day. besides, you can always dvr my show. you really cant' dvr the future of the country. to help you make informed decisions, watch current tv's politically direct lineup. only on current tv. so vote and vote smart.

my point that romney -- leadership is what it's all about. and he failed two big tests of leadership yesterday by refusing to repudiate the rape comments of richard mourdock and also by refusing to repudiate the crazy challenge, the october bombshell dropped by donald trump yesterday. mitt romney missing in action. he accuses president obama of not showing any leadership. now is the time to stand up, mitt. i think probably paul ryan wouldn't let him. certainly paul ryan wouldn't let him stand up and condemn richard mourdock because paul ryan agrees with richard mourdock. he didn't yesterday. paul ryan didn't say anything yesterday by the way but paul ryan has been -- you know, marching lock step with todd akin and richard mourdock in the united states congress in the

personhood amendment and in trying to take all decisions about controlling your own body away from american women. peter, what are people saying on the facebook or twitter? >> on twitter right now tweeting at bpshow, aria writes in mitt romney is doing the stand by your man even though these men are too stupid to be true. honey bear kelly writes in who would lend trump $5 million to give to charity anyway? the whole trump wealth thing is a lot of smoke and mirrors to begin with. >> bill: one comment i saw that donald trump figured out a way that he would not have to give $5 million to charity. >> you notice he threw in that little -- that i find to be acceptable or the transcripts. he won't give anybody $5 million no matter what. >> bill: the conservatives, i must say other than mitt romney were as vocal in their

denounceiation of donald trump as democrats were. kathy is in philadelphia. hey, kathy good morning. >> caller: good morning, bill, how are you? >> bill: i'm good. thank you for joining us. what's your point? >> caller: i'm assistant district attorney in one of the municipalities of the area. i've dealt with rape victims. it infuriates me what this individual is saying but what gets me -- >> bill: kathy you realize it is part of god's plan. >> caller: that's the point i'm making. if it is god's plan for somebody to carry on a pregnancy after you've been raped then it was god's will you get raped in the first place. >> bill: exactly. you can't separate the two acts. >> caller: no, you can't. how did you get pregnant in the first place? you got raped. >> bill: it is also by extension. it is so -- i don't know. unbelievably outrageous. >> there are people out there

that -- god has a plan for everything. horrible murder or a rape or something -- any tragedy that hits somebody, they'll say well, you know, god's never going to give you more than you can handle. >> bill: kathy, dealing with these women, you must -- can't imagine the trauma that these women go through. this even compounds it. this attitude, right? i guess kathy is gone. i'm sorry kathy. thank you for checking in and for the good work you're doing up in the philadelphia area. let's bounce out to the west coast again. sean in oakland california. hey, sean, good morning. >> caller: good morning, bill, how are you? >> bill: i'm good. what's up? >> caller: first, let me just say, you need to get a radio station out here on the west coast so we can listen to you while we're at work. >> bill: we've got one. we have several. >> caller: on the west coast. >> bill: right in the bay area in san francisco is -- it is no longser green -- longer green

960. sean, we're checking it right now. we'll give you the number. >> caller: anyway, i would like to say -- it is one thing to go out and vote for obama. but if we don't vote down ballot and get the republicans out of office and get some people in there to help move the agenda, to move this country back on track, i mean it is all for nothing because if he gets back in office and then we allow the congress to stay in the republican hands it is -- they're just going to do what they did these last four years. >> bill: sean, listen, amen, amen to that. i've said that many times on the show here. that's why we just had a whole week where we're introducing people to house candidates all around the country. and we had jennifer duffy in yesterday talking about all of the big senate races. it is just as important just as important to keep the senate in

democratic hands and to get the house back. obama won't be able to get anything done unless he's got a congress that will work together with him. sean, here we go. it is 960 a.m. in the bay area. knew. we're there in the bay area both on current tv and on 960 a.m. on the radio, okay? >> caller: 960 a.m. >> bill: knew. you got it. join us. watch us or listen to us. stay with us and tell your friends. thanks sean. >> irie is in pennsylvania. >> caller: i just wanted to call in and express my anger at mr. mourdock. i can't believe that he would say such a thing. >> bill: i can't either. i can't believe his fellow republicans like cornyn and

romney all stand by him. >> caller: the thing about it, bill, he's using god. he hates me because i'm an afro-american. how can you be -- if you're saying i'm a christian and i love the lord then do godly things and help the poor. and the needy you know, the old and the sick. >> bill: that's not -- irie, you and i read a different gospel. we know a different jesus than they know. >> caller: one more thing. i just got my thing in yesterday from the union workers -- from the bus drivers in pennsylvania and they've got everybody on here who to vote for. so i'm just so glad. my husband works for septa. >> bill: if it comes from the bus driver's union, i would trust it right down the line.

thank you so much. good to hear from you. >> on her comments about god's plan and who god has in store. latanya brought up a very good point. it wasn't so long ago that we were playing a clip from george zimmerman who shot trayvon martin where he said this was all part of god's plan. >> bill: as i said. murder could be seen as god's plan. the idea that the violence and all of that and the male pig power play, all of that associated with rape and all of that trauma, that god would inflict that on any woman including the pregnancy. as kathy pointed out you can't separate the rape from the pregnancy, right? so he says i'm not endorsing the rape but i am standing up for the -- and saying the pregnancy has to stand. yeah. where do these people come from? eddie, fall river massachusetts. hi eddie, good morning. >> caller: sir, it is an

absolute honor and a privilege and a pleasure. god bless you and everybody there at the show and god bless this world and please, can we explain to the people of america why exactly do we need the republican party again in this nation? they are responsible for -- they said nothing. they did nothing for this president. i do not understand why we have two parties. the republicans do not deserve a party in this country. we are a one-party nation. the democrats and the democrats only. and i'll repeat it. all of you in between people, undecided people, please get it together before this is over. we need barack obama not that he's ever going to be perfect but this man is amazing! and it is personal. my mom dad sister, are on disability. how in the world can scott brown think it is okay to cut medicare and medicaid and say no to everything for massachusetts? elizabeth warren is an absolute

amazing woman. i've met her a couple of times campaigning, i'm canvassing for her for my family, my state my country, my world. i can't believe that republicans have the nerve to collect tax dollars from me and everybody else in this world. you need get together and try to get a better party and help the democrats help the working poor people. >> bill: eddie, you got it together man. i gotta tell ya, the obama campaign ought to have you out there as a surrogate. you see what the issue is and mitt romney and paul ryan, their agenda is to end medicare, to end medicaid and to end social security. that is what is at stake. thank you, eddie. we'll be right back. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

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>> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show." >> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: here we go. at 13 minutes before the top of the hour. talking about mitt romney. and his failure to show any leadership at all in repudiating the outrageous comments by richard mourdock, republican senate candidate in indiana. and donald trump -- what do we call him? clown. joker. fraud. >> there was a little moment in the news cycle yesterday late morning where there was the press conference from richard mourdock wrapping up and the

donald trump statement about to begin and i was just thinking to myself this is america. this is america. and this is the crap that we're dealing with right now. it is unbelievable. >> bill: that's what it has sunk down to. i want to take a minute out -- pardon me. for an important word about the polls. here's what's driving me crazy. i mean the romney campaign after the last debate where romney really did not do so well on foreign policy right they put out the word. that's all right because he was purposely holding back because we got this baby in the bag. i'm paraphrasing. we're going to win. we're confident. and so mitt romney just wanted to appear presidential. and not engage barack obama. which is b.s. if i ever heard it. a lot of the media picked up on this. you've seen the stories. oh, the momentum is in mitt romney's favor. oh, he's got it. he's got it won. here's how barack obama lost and

we just have two more weeks. nothing is going to change. that lasted for about a day. until yesterday some good reporters, glenn thrush from politico among them started looking again at the numbers and saying hey wait a minute. first of all this -- the gallup poll which people are still quoting. we talked about it last week. showing the national tracking poll 47%-47%. oh my god they're tied. it is time for democrats to panic. we pointed out the national polls do not mean beans. we do not elect a president by national polls so the national surveys really of 1,000 voters don't tell you anything. you've gotta look at the state by state by state. so after one day of swallowing or drinking the romney kool-aid, reporters now are starting to say you know what? no. the numbers don't add up.

it is like mitt romney's tax plan. the numbers don't add up with his tax plan either. they don't add up with his exuding confidence that this election is in the bag for him. it is not. now, it is not in the bag for obama either. but it looks a lot better for barack obama still today than it does for mitt romney. so now the tide is starting to turn. here's the headline in this morning's "new york times," romney is upbeat but the math is still the same. jeff and ashley point out that mitt romney is savoring his energy, talking with rising confidence about becoming president. he dwells far less on the biggest obstacle facing his campaign. the electoral college. >> oh, that. that little thing. that little detail, huh? weird. >> bill: just happened to get in the way. and when you look at the electoral college today here's

where we are -- here's just some of the states, okay? the battleground states, right. about ten of them. pennsylvania, obama is up by 11. ohio ohio! >> it always comes down to ohio. >> bill: as ohio goes, so goes the nation. ohio, obama up by 5. mitt romney is there again today but president obama is going back there again. they'll be pounding it. it is particularly the president's rescue of the american auto industry that has put him in the lead in ohio. that's not going to go away. new hampshire, obama is up by just 1. but that's a conservative state. obama is carrying it. wisconsin, key state paul ryan's home state president obama is up by 3. iowa president obama up by 2. nevada, he was there again yesterday. he was there the week before. joe biden was there yesterday.

today maybe that the president -- anyhow, they're both there and i know the vice president was there yesterday. i believe president obama went there after -- yes he did. day after he joined the jay leno show yesterday. nevada president obama up by 4. florida looks like a tie right now. virginia looks like a tie. colorado looks like a tie. all three of those are still in play. but if you look at the battleground states, president obama, that's where he has the lead. that's where he needs to play. that's where he needs to win. that's where he will win. that determines the electoral college. so this myth that mitt romney is already put this thing away and is already president of the united states. they're going to go back. don't believe it. it is like his saying well, if you add up my numbers, i'm going to cut another $8 trillion but it is not going to add to the

debt because i'm going to get rid of some loopholes. >> right. >> bill: it is fuzzy math. >> it is fuzzy math. >> bill: these reporters know better than this. >> you would think. they know we don't elect a president based on a national poll. >> bill: it is the herd mentality. it is the herd mentality. we've seen it happen so many times. one reporter will write a story. it is looking good for romney then everybody has to write the same story. >> the echo chamber. >> bill: the echo chamber. politicians don't like the media. and why as a member of the media don't like the media. if they're not doing their job. >> right. >> bill: their job is to kick the tires. their job is to focus on what matters here. and what counts and what covents is -- and what counts is the electoral college and the battleground states. that's where president obama is still ahead and where he's going to win this election. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

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you've heard bill's views, now let's hear yours. politically direct means no b.s. just telling you what's going on in politics today. >>at the only on-line forum with a direct line to bill press. >>it's something i've been waiting for a long time. >>join the debate now.

>> announcer: taking your >> announcer: taking your e-mails on any topic at any time, this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: a little footnote to wrap up my -- what we were saying about the polls. nate silver and "the new york times" with the blog puts it today in the electoral college president obama 290.8. you need 270 to win. 290.8. mitt romney, 247.2. nate silver giving president obama a 71% chance of being

re-elected. mitt romney a 29% chance of taking the white house. >> so it's close. >> bill: so it's real close. mm-hmm yeah. stephanie palmer says your caller joey forgot that romney has no guts. if romney were president bin laden would still be alive just like the bush administration. bush had no guts and romney has no guts. dave wants to know -- good question, why doesn't donald trump offer $5 million to mitt's favorite charity if he would show his tax returns. and bruce questions aren't the ts in women's golf set further up than men's ts? they're no longer called women's tees. they're called -- >> yeah they are. >> lady's tees. >> bill: no. forward tees. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hey, good morning everybody. it is thursday, october 25. welcome to the "full court press." here on current tv. good to see you today. thank you for joining us. as we bring you the stories of the day and take your calls at 1-866-55-press. our big town hall every day here bringing you up to date on the news around here and our nation's capital around the country and around the globe. yesterday, no guts, no glory among the republican party. richard mourdock, republican

senate candidate in indiana refusing to apologize for saying that rape is part of god's plan. and mitt romney refusing to repudiate mourdock's remarks instead standing by him. it just shows you who the two of them are. mourdock is an extremist and romney is a coward. all right. we'll get into that and a whole lot more here. first we take a little time out to get the latest, today's current news update from lisa ferguson standing by in los angeles. hi lisa. >> hey bill. good morning everyone. it is a battle for swing states in the final stretch of the campaign and it is a very busy day for the president. obama starts off the day with an event in tampa. then heads to richmond, virginia. followed by a stop in chicago where he will cast his vote early and in person. michelle obama already put her mail-in ballot in the mail earlier this month making the pair the first white house couple to not vote in person on election day. after voting from his home state of illinois, the president

leaves for ohio where he will campaign in cleveland this evening. mitt romney's also in ohio today with stops in cincinnati, worthington and defiance. according to the daily abc news "washington post" poll, romney is leading the president nationally by 1 point at 49-48%. but as we've mentioned earlier what really matters is the electoral vote. the polls are showing president obama with small leads in three battleground states. ohio, iowa and wisconsin. so if he could pick up those three plus keep his hold on the democratic states, he should win the election. and if you're interested in keeping up with the president you can check out his blog. here is his latest entry. >> obama: unbelievable crowd here in denver. we're now going on to l.a. >> the president is blogging his 48-hour road blitz with a series of videos, photos and written entries. you can check it out at barack

obama.tumbler.com. we're back with more bill after the break. stay with us. current tv encourages you to vote on november 6th but just as importantly to take the time to learn about each candidate's stance on the issues that matter to you. to help you make informed decisions, watch current tv's politically direct lineup. only on current tv. vote smart. our democracy depends on an informed electorate.

>> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: i will give $10 million to any charity he names if donald trump would just shut up! and go away! don't worry. i won't lose my money because he'll never shut up. hello, everybody. great to see you. it is thursday, thursday, october 25. the "full court press" booming out to you live on your local progressive radio station. god bless them.

and on current tv. we invite you to join us any way you want to, any way you can. we give lots of opportunities to be part of the conversation. give us a call. maybe it is the easiest way at 1-866-55-press. army of operators standing by to take your calls. join us on twitter. at bpshow. maybe that's the easiest. twitter. pick up your iphone. join us on facebook. facebook.com/billpressshow. or go to the chat room and then go to current.com. click on the chat room then you're in with all of your "full court pressers" all the way across the land or if you're eric burns you just walk in the studio. >> that's right. that's all i have to do. red carpet treatment. nice to be here, bill. >> bill: eric burns head of bullfight strategies. nice to have you here as a "friend of bill" for this whole hour. >> absolutely. >> bill: joining our team. i guess i better be careful. not everybody can just walk in the studio.

special friends. >> special friend of bill. i like that. put it on the business card. that would be good. >> absolutely. >> bill: i'm a "friend of bill." >> you know how i have like the worst twitter address? >> i saw this. >> brand new. erburns. >> you used to be underscores and all sorts of things. >> now it is just vericburns. >> bill: ated. >> theericburns. >> i gotta get the edge from fox. >> the other one the other eric burns. that would have been really weird to type out. >> bill: so you joined the team of course here. peter ogborn and dan henning and phil backert has the phones.

cyprian bowlding our videographer. where would we be without him? >> you would be in the dark. >> bill: we would be just a radio show. >> we would be dressed like dan. >> what? >> stains on my t-shirt. >> yeah, dressed like dan. >> bill: by the way president obama, so he was all over the country yesterday. and one stop was in los angeles. to tape the jay leno show which aired last night. he was in rare form. jay did ask him so how do you explain -- let's say the not so great performance in the first debates and president obama said you know, these debates they ain't easy. >> obama: this is not a natural way of communicating. sitting next to somebody and having an extended argument with them like that. >> well, you're married. [ laughter ] >> obama: i am. the difference is with michelle, i just concede every point.

>> bill: i'm sure he does, too. >> smart man. >> bill: yes honey. >> i wouldn't mess with michelle obama. >> happy wife, happy life. >> bill: don't we all do the same thing? >> i don't mess with my wife. >> bill: okay. here we are three cowards sitting here. >> yep. >> or are we civilized men? i don't know. bill o'reilly wouldn't think so. >> bill: no. the president was also asked last night news of the day. about donald trump's big bombshell. >> what's this thing with trump and you? it's like me and letterman. what's he got against you here? i don't get it. [ laughter ] >> obama: this dates back to when we were growing up together in kenya. >> bill: that was so funny. it was great. you know trump's thing -- we'll get into that more. >> obama goes on the shows and is typically funnier than the host. he has such a great delivery. granted, he has a team of

writers. it is a great line. he delivered it really well. >> willard has a team of writers and does not go on the shows. he has conspicuously absent. >> bill: it would be very awkward if he were there and pretending to be funny. >> imagine jimmy kimmel having to fact check him on the air. >> think about how long it takes to program the romney bot for humor. it takes awhile. >> bill: i'm telling you, we could go tomorrow, last friday, i was out at george mason university when president obama first dropped the romnesia line and that rift on romnesia is one of the best stand-up comic acts i've ever seen. congresswoman barbara leigh will be joining us later in the program as well as stephanie the head of emily's list. but first -- >> good morning, other headlines making news on this thursday. tom cruise has filed a

defamation lawsuit against "life & style" magazine for reporting that he has abandoned his daughter suri. the actor who split with wife katie holmes is going after the gossip rag for a cool $50 million. his attorney says the reporting is nothing but a vicious lie and he's a caring father who loves his 6-year-old daughter. if tom cruise wins the lawsuit he will reportedly give all of the money to charity. >> if he was a caring father, why wouldn't he put all of the money into a fund for suri to have when she's older? i don't know. just a thought. >> tv stations have run into a big problem this campaign season. but it is a good one. there are more political ads airing than ever before. there's just not enough airspace to air them. according to the "washington post," stations across the country are replacing scind cated shows with expanded news ka casts because they have more control over the ad time and then the regularly scheduled newscast --

>> bill: that's what we need. more political ads on television. >> regular newscasts they're doing less news and airing more political ads because they're making so much money off of them. an estimated $3.3 billion being pumped into tv stations from political advertising. >> what would a newscast be today if there was any news in it? >> bill: good point. >> i listen -- i was tired of 20 hours a day of news and now we have to go back to this? we're america. >> bill: i don't know about you but when i sit at home watching television, i keep saying to myself, we need more political ads. especially this time of year. >> bill: i want to see george allen and tim kaine and mitt romney. remember obama said some little kid's mother asked -- do you know who that is? that's barack obama. do you know what he does? he approves this ad.

>> a fun day at the u.n. yesterday. south korean rapper known for the song gangnum style met with moon and taught his fellow south korean how to do the dance. felix also met with secretary moon. no word if he's going to take him sky dyeing. sky dyeing. >> you can do the dance. >> it is the horse riding dance. >> hey. >> i'm with bill. i'm like what? i don't know. >> come on. >> bill: i've seen it on television. >> he just did the horse ride. >> bill: okay. save that for our fourth hour this morning. 14 minutes after the hour. eric, where do we start? yesterday was so outrageous. first, richard mourdock, we know what he said, right. you get pregnant as far as rape, don't worry about it.

god had that in mind for you. >> that was his intention. >> bill: god's intent. >> specific word he used. >> bill: mourdock -- yesterday, he came out. you think he would say oh, my god. i'm sorry. i never meant to say that. i apologize. no, he came out yesterday and said i'm not going to apologize and instead he attacked the media for twisting his words and saying this is what's wrong with politics. here's mourdock yesterday. >> if others wish to try to turn those words and use them against me again that's what's wrong with washington today. it is win at any cost. let's make up issues when we can't find real ones. let's twist let's distort and disee. >> bill: we didn't distort his words. we played his words. >> he said it was from a speech. that means it is a prepared text. they had time to consider it. and i think that that means something. >> bill: they really believe

it. >> they believe it. we've seen in the last two years or so, republicans and conservatives, they do not apologize anymore because they got -- they got a lot of bad press for apologizing in the past and they have this kind of no apology mentality and it permeates not only to our foreign policy, god help us but even to their media figures when they say outrageous things. >> bill: people say well this is just republican senate candidate in indiana. no it's not. richard mourdock has been endorsed by mitt romney. mitt romney refused to repudiate -- withdraw his endorsement yesterday. said he didn't agree with mourdock but i'll stand by him. i want him in the united states senate. this is richard mourdock, john cornyn, head of the senate campaign committee stood by him. this is richard mourdock who is heart and soul together with todd akin and paul ryan. the three that sponsored this -- this extreme anti-women legislation in the united states

congress. >> we're just seeing these points of connection between extremely out there radical fringe tea party driven candidates. he is a tea party-driven candidate in the west way possible that are just inextricably tied with this -- the g.o.p. ticket. and i find it a little disturbing too, that you know, that there's not -- more sensitivity on his part to -- how much -- how deeply he offended people of faith and to suggest that something like was god's intent and for mitt romney to not have the judgment to step back from that and say wait a minute. >> bill: it was a test for romney. he flunked it. it was a test for him to say this could have been a sister soldier moment he could have stood up and said no, no, no, this is not who we are as republicans. this is not what our party is. todd akin does not represent us.

and it would have been a very courageous and right thing to do. mitt romney doesn't have the guts to do it. >> interestingly, study and contrast mccain, you know, a man of conviction, i think everybody whether you agreed with him or not he's a man of conviction. he got up and demanded an apology and withdraw his support. mitt romney -- an opportunist. no conviction whatsoever. >> bill: now so on a parallel track yesterday, we have the clown, the buffoon, the nation's number one buffoon donald trump who stands up with this -- it reminded me -- it is the birther thing all over again except now instead of the birth certificate, it's college transcripts and passport -- >> applications. >> bill: when he went to kenya, i guess whatever. here's trump's making his big proposal. >> if barack obama opens up and gives his college records and

applications and if he gives his passport applications and records, i will give to a charity of his choice inner city children in chicago american cancer society a.i.d.s. research, anything he wants, a check immediately for $5 million. >> bill: again, you would think that mitt romney would stand up and say come on, this is a joke. let's get off this stuff and talk about serious issues but no. he wants trump's -- he's got trump's endorsement. he wants trump's endorsement so he refused to repudiate trump yesterday. >> the man has no conviction. which should be concerning every american. i'll tell you one, trump just sounds like a mid-level like old school philadelphia mob boss at this point. or some guy that's out in vegas. trying to like make a deal with the president. it is sick on a strange level.

you listen to him talk about the charities. you hear the disdain in his voice? >> i said the same thing! >> that really, really says something about the values of this entire group of folks. >> he choked out the name of the charities. >> the cancer society. >> bill: inner city children. of chicago. >> so crazy like donate money to a.i.d.s. research. help children. >> the code for helping black children. >> you think of super villain. >> his hair i think is a sidekick. [ laughter ] >> bill: all right. again, the question is why won't mitt romney repudiate mourdock and why won't he repudiate trump? because he doesn't have any convictions. he doesn't have any courage. he doesn't have any character. he doesn't show -- he's not showing any leadership either. 20 minutes after the hour. eric burns here as a "friend of bill". >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

(vo) john fugelsang sees what happens. i like mitt romney but i'm sorry. they guy has flipped more than a crack house mattress. (vo) so we gave him a weekly show. >> thank you.

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you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show." now on current tv. >> bill: here we go. 25 minutes after the hour. the "full court press" on thursday, october 25. eric burns, "friend of bill" in studio with us for this hour. the oman i think -- the first man in the history of this program to walk in wearing a pocket hand handkerchief. you look very dapper. >> it is a chief. i don't know. [ laughter ] >> get out! >> it is a blue snot rag. >> bill: at first i thought

you were roland martin walking in here. >> next, he will come in with a monocle. >> whatever roland wears i put on. >> bill: what have you got on twit summer. >> we're tweeting at bp show on twitter. we're talking about richard mourdock up there and his comments. aria writes in god's plan is for me to vote for president obama to protect my body! also chiming in -- >> bill: good point. >> stephanie says bill, mourdock's version of this god is one sadistic sob. one person writing in combining mourdock and donald trump, mitt romney's new best friends says mourdock and trump sitting in tree. pretty good. >> bill: hello to betty out in esca lon california. hi betty. >> caller: hi, bill.

>> bill: betty as a californian, i have no idea where esca lon is. >> caller: it's on route 120 going toward sonora. >> bill: up in the gold country, huh? >> caller: not quite up that far >> bill: i know where you are now. what's your point betty? >> caller: my point is i wonder just how strong god's meaning would be if it was one of their daughters, wives granddaughters that had been raped. i wonder if they would still have that same feeling. >> bill: that's a good question. betty, i appreciate that. that brings it back home. >> absolutely. it really does. because you know, you don't -- until you've lived something like that, you don't really know what's at stake especially for one of your children and -- >> bill: i must admit i do

not know of anybody -- i don't think i've ever known a woman who went through that whole experience but i've certainly scene enough of them on television and seen them testify and read the stories. what a horrific experience and to suggest oh, come on, you're making too much of this. let's go forward with god's plan for you. >> oh, no, no. i have known women -- and it is -- it is grueling -- any woman, even if it is an elective procedure, very traumatic. especially talking about rape. my god. >> bill: richard mourdock and mitt romney refusing to repudiate it. we'll be joined by amy harter from the "national journal" coming up here. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

successful democracy depended on an informed electorate. our country's future depends on you. to help you make informed decisions, watch current tv's politically direct lineup. only on current tv. take the time to learn about the issues. don't just vote, vote smart.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 33 minutes after the hour now. the "full court press" on thursday. thursday, october 25. coming to you live from our nation's capital. and our studio on capitol hill and brought to you today by the international association of ironworkers. ironworkers, period. the sky's the limit. for them. under president walter weiss. good men and women of the ironworkers. find out more about their good work by going to ironworkers.org. i was thinking of them last monday when i was in new york

and saw the great new building there at the world trade center. and we continue to talk about the news of the day here. one of the big issues that's come up in the debates over and over again and a point of difference between mitt romney and president obama is the issue of energy. what our energy policy should be. whether we're doing enough in terms of drilling for more domestic oil. getting independent from foreign sources of oil. been talking about that for a long time. what about coal. what about nuclear energy. amy harter covers all of those issues for the "national journal" joining us in studio again this morning. hi amy. >> hi, good morning. thanks for having me. >> bill: nice to have you back. eric burns here for this whole hour. aren't we lucky. >> i feel special. >> bill: as a "friend of bill." >> thanks for having me. >> bill: let's start with

coal. okay. mitt romney runs around -- he's mr. coal. even though when he was governor, he shut down a coal plant in massachusetts. is coal on its way out? >> coal, i think is done -- is on its way out as king coal but it is never going to go -- i shouldn't say never but it's not going to go away as a dominant energy source for decades maybe even centuries to come. >> bill: is that because there's so much of it? >> it is too renewable. it is going to take drastic global action to get rid of coal to go to renewable because the coal here right now the use of it has gone down versus exporting it to china and india. until those countries cut down on their coal use coal will be burn and the ultimate cause of concern with something like coal of course is global warming and by definition, it is a global

issue. it doesn't make a difference whether it is here in the united states or in india. it needs to be addressed on a global level. especially for a political campaign we live in an echo chamber. >> bill: it seems, eric, clean coal sounds like airline food. >> yes. that's big with certain democrats in west virginia. and you know, conservative democrats on the hill. i don't really understand -- having worked on the hill. i don't understand clean coal. i don't think there is -- such a thing -- clean air coal. please correct me if i'm wrong. >> clean coal has become a euphemism for really complicated technology that's not commercially available so it has gotten to this point where people don't think it is real. it's an oxy moron. there is one plant in mississippi employing this ccs technology that would be considered clean coal. i think cleaner is probably the

better definition. >> bill: i read an article the other day. i think it was in "the new york times" talking about natural gas. and now how much natural gas there is. and new methods of reaching the natural gas even though we might have a problem with fracking. but compared to coal where with coal, you've got the pollution. you've got the greenhouse gases you've got cutting off of mountain tops where with natural gas, you've got that kind of a basically -- natural gas. there's lots of it. and it is clean. so isn't natural gas sort of edging coal aside? >> definitely. i just had a big story about this in the "national journal" magazine. i spent a week in west virginia which is coal country but it is also increasingly natural gas country. second to pennsylvania, has the most amount of shale gas in the marcellus shale in the northeast. so that is really where the ground zero is happening. i would like to talk about the

lesser of two evils when it comes to natural gas and coal. environmentalists see natural gas as the lesser of two evils. they see romney as the lesser of two evils. yes, he made those comments when he was massachusetts governor. they like him better than president obama. >> the owner of the coal plants, am i mistaken, didn't romney get -- at an event -- coal workers and coal miners being forced to come out and stand behind mitt romney. >> right. there was a very awkward time for the romney campaign. >> a management versus worker thing. >> bill: the other issue is in the debates back and forth i think, also the vice presidential debate, the amount of drilling. drilling for oil in this country. romney claims -- paraphrasing that oil drilling has gone down particularly on public lands on the obama administration and then i hear -- as part of the white house press corps jay carney tells us and they tried

out the numbers. no actually production, number of wells new permits and everything has gone up including on public lands. how do we sort it out? who's telling the truth? >> i have done a lot of fact checking on that point. >> bill: ah-ha. fact checking. >> we're all fact checkers. >> it is funny because when i browse other publications, we all come up with different answers which is humorous, the whole fact checking. >> sean hannity. >> bill: somebody has to fact check the fact checkers. >> right. so it really depends -- when you talk about energy production, first of all something i always like to say that there is a lag in time when the energy is actually being introduce produced to when the numbers can get out on to paper and out into the public to be consumed. usually what happens is what's being published today is a result of policies from two three, four, five, ten years ago. i wrote a story i think it was when this first started this whole debate over public versus private lands to get into the

energy world where i usually operate was 2010, i think. so i've been covering this issue for awhile. and obama did -- i think he has to some degree, taken credit for some of what george w. bush did about opening up more drilling but he hasn't, i would say in the same breath, he has not aside from the bp oil spill which he did have a moratorium on offshore drilling which accounts for somewhat of the decrease. on natural gas production is slightly down on public lands but drastically up on private lands. but i think that's irrespective of the obama administration's policies. >> romney was trying to make this point, he was trying to hang higher gas prices on -- around the president's neck because of a failure to open up public lands for more drilling. and you know, i know one -- i think one of the things that secretary salazar protected was like the grand canyon. i don't think most americans want oil derricks popping out of

the grand canyon. >> bill: some tree hugger or something? >> granola hippy socialist. isn't this really a refinery issue or is that no longer the key issue? >> in california, it is -- it remains to be a refinery irv. on a macroscale -- is always the global market. politicians will to their death talk about how they can control gas prices. it is just -- it is not true. they can't. to a larger sense -- >> i said opec can right? >> opec can more than president obama or mitt romney could as president. even if we become this, you know all-encompassing energy independent, we still would be tied presumably unless they want us to get off the global oil market, we would still be impacted by global oil prices and therefore our gasoline. >> bill: is it true that we import less foreign oil today than we used to?

that number's gone down, right? >> yes. that's good but it doesn't -- that's good for a variety of reasons and to protect us somewhat from the energy security. people like to say energy independence, we shouldn't use that word but it is better politically than energy security. that's good for security reasons and things like that. it doesn't really make a big difference on prices as long as we're tied to this global oil market. getting off the global oil market would be profound and nobody would ever consider doing it. it is silly. we could, in theory have higher gasoline prices. we would have an enclosed market. >> bill: i'm not i got an answer to the question about production. in terms of oil and gas production are we up or down? >> right now oil production on public lands is up. natural gas is slightly down. and coal is slightly down as well. but -- >> on private lands, it is up. >> on private lands natural gas is up significantly largely because most of the -- shale for example is found on private

lands. >> bill: private -- whether it is public or private lands it all has some government regulation government approval, government permits right? >> right but the public lands have much more. >> yeah. if you want to do something on the national mall, you have to go to the park police. obviously that's kind of a joke. but you know, that's where you end up. >> bill: i don't know. grand canyon, national mall. mitt romney would do it. >> it is a short hop right? wasn't that whole exchange, i feel like this is what we see so often in this cycle. mitt romney trying to dig obama and hang something on him he didn't have the facts and wasn't right. is that fair or was mitt romney correct? >> bill: i'm going to have some questions hanging there because we want to take a break. we'll get the answer when we come back. amy harder is here from the "national journal." covers energy and environmental issues. eric burns bullfight strategies here. you can follow him on twitter at

the eric burns. the "full court press." we'll be right back. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >>oh really? >>"if you ever raise taxes on >>the rich, you're going to destroy our economy." not true!

>>i jump out of my skin at people when i'm upset. do you share the sense of outrage that they're doing this, this corruption based on corruption based on corruption. >>i think that's an understatement, eliot. u>> i'm not prone tot. understatement, so explain to me why that is. i think the mob learned from

wall st., not vice versa. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: it is 13 minutes before the top -- 13 minutes before the top of the hour. hello. "full court press" on a thursday, october 25. good to see you. we're talking energy, environment, politics with amy harder from the "national journal," eric burns bullfight strategies. we'll take your calls.

but first, here's a little word of advice for some of you. those of you who -- having a hard time making ends meet at the end of the month and who doesn't. you ought to check out incomeathome.com. you've heard me talk about them before. america's leading work from home business doing business in over 80 countries and to they're offering you an opportunity. you can take advantage of it no matter your age education or experience. you can literally earn money on your own computer from your own kitchen table 24/7. all you need is a little spare time. if you're sick of living paycheck to paycheck, worried about job security or retirement, if your goal is to earn some extra income from home part-time or full time, income at home is where you ought to go. they're checking adding my listeners in record numbers and giving away $1,000 to somebody just for checking them out. so visit incomeathome.com. that's incomeathome.com. amy, eric, some breaking news on

the political front. the obama campaign announcing this morning that president clinton, big dog himself is going to be joining president obama on the campaign trail in florida, ohio and virginia. they're rolling out the big guns here for the last -- that's going to be a real shot in the arm for the obama campaign. and huge news this morning just a few minutes ago on cbs morning news. colin powell, general colin powell endorsed president obama for re-election. he had endorsed him in 2008. he says that basically romney's policies are all over the place. obama's on the right track. and we have to keep him going. that's huge. >> i think it could be a real game changer. this could be -- i don't want to overstate it but i feel like the

missing colin powell endorsement or run for the last number of years has been kind of like the holy grail of endorsements and blessings from, you know, a respected american military figure. >> bill: i must admit amy i got a little nervous a few weeks ago when colin powell said he wasn't ready to make an endorsement. he hadn't made up his mind. you endorsed obama in 2008. i thought oh, man, what if he went the other way. the fact that he stuck with obama -- >> and it came after the debate on foreign policy, clearly whatever president obama said really resonated with him. >> i can tell you colin is a republican. he is -- i think a representative of the james baker, george w. bush sector of the republican party. i wonder if there is a deeper message here. >> bill: he is also very much not a neocon and the neoconsle will do have a stranglehold it seems right now on mitt romney's

foreign policy. >> i think it shows how far the republican party has changed over the last couple of years. i know powell mentioned moderate republicans becoming an endangered species. i think it is a sign of how much things have changed within the republican party. >> bill: yeah. bill clinton and colin powell jumping on the obama bandwagon this morning. eric had made a point before the break -- >> yes. i was asking amy if during the debate -- interesting exchange where mitt romney was really drilling down, no pun intended, on -- whether president obama had increased or decreased drilling on public lands. i felt like -- i felt like -- you know romney kind of got himself boxed in too tight and lost the point in the debate but i wanted to ask you if he was correct or if he wasn't?

>> i think where he got his numbers, he cherry picked both candidate -- both candidates cherry picked the numbers to make them seem better than they really are. i think he picked the change from the 2010 to 2011 which was uniquely low because of the bp oil spill. that must be -- pointed out because i think even romney, had he been president at the time, he probably would have done something similar. >> bill: almost had to. i have to ask you not too much time here. electric cars. what's happening? are they -- they're going to start building like a cadillac hybrid or cadillac electric car. does that mean that they're really working? people are buying them? or not? >> people are not buying them as much as some people would have hoped three or four years ago at the beginning of president obama's term but his really ambitious fuel economy standards which will require cars to get 54.5 miles to the gallon by 2025 will help provide a market for

these -- forced market for these electric cars because many manufacturers have to make them and other types of efficient cars to meet this standard. but right now with cars like prius available people don't see a need for electric cars. it is the competition between the fuel efficient cars themselves. >> bill: are you going buy one, eric? >> there is one i would like to buy if i do very, very well and i'm very nice to my wife, i would love to have a fisker. it is very expensive. aren't the electric cars the long-term solution? >> yeah. i would say long-term in 20, 50 years. >> bill: amy harder, great to you have in. thank you so much for keeping track of this stuff and bringing us up to date. eric burns, it is always fun. >> great to be here, bill. thank you so much. >> bill: theericburns. >> finally. >> bill: the one and only.

i'll be right back and tell what you the president is up to today. >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv, this is the "bill press show." dose of politics from a fresh perspective. >>i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. >>only on current tv.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: this is the "bill >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. i gotta tell you, i don't even know where the president is at this moment. i think he spent the night in las vegas. but the schedule for today he has an unbelievably -- he is crisscrossing the entire country today. get this. he arrives in tampa florida. this morning. well, he did. about an hour ago.

ten minutes to 7:00 east coast time. now to get to tampa florida from vegas, he would have to have left vegas at 2:00 in the morning or something. he arrives in tampa. big campaign event down in tampa, florida. where the republicans held their convention. at 8:45. 45 minutes from now. then he goes up to richmond, virginia. big campaign event in richmond, virginia at 1:15 then he goes to chicago. where he's going to vote in chicago. and then -- he flies in just to vote. then he goes to cleveland ohio, with a big campaign event in cleveland. back at the white house tonight at 11:05 p.m. man. from boom, boom, boom -- you might think there is an election comin' up! and there is. stephanie from emily's list at the top of the next hour. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

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[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: good morning everybody! what do you say. it is thursday, october 25. great to see you today. welcome to the "full court press." here on current tv. your morning roundup where we bring you up to date on the news of the day. here in our nation's capital around the country, on the campaign trail and around the globe and we'll take your calls and yesterday donald trump dropped the october bombshell he promised to give $5 million to any charity if obama president obama would simply release his college transcripts and his

passport records. well, what a joke! i'll tell you what. i'll match him. and raise him $5 million. i'll give $10 million to any charity if donald trump would just shut up and go away! of course, i'll never lose the money because he'll never shut up. we'll get into that and a whole lot more. first, today's current news update from lisa ferguson out in los angeles. hi lisa. >> hey bill. good morning everyone. a bit of breaking news this morning. colin powell is endorsing barack obama for president. he made that announcement on cbs this morning calling romney's foreign policy a moving target. and saying he does not think romney's thought through the issues as thoroughly as he should have. mitt romney is in ohio all day today and then heads to iowa tomorrow for a speech on the economy. campaign aides are calling it is a significant speech that would reinforce the big choice in november. but they won't give any details on what romney will actually say

iowa's economy is doing far better than the national average with state unemployment at just 5.2%. the latest poll average from real clear politics gives obama up 2 points in iowa. 49% to 47%. paul ryan gave a big speech of his own yesterday on reforming programs for the poor. this was his first policy speech since becoming the vice presidential nominee. >> no matter where you come from, you should have the opportunity in america to rise, to escape poverty and to achieve whatever your god-given talents and hard work enable you to achieve. >> he said a romney/ryan ticket would help restore upward mobility for the poor, his plan was short on actual specifics. in congress, ryan proposed cutting spending on programs for the poor including food stamping and his medicaid program could cost 36 million americans their

health insurance. more bill press coming up. stay with us. to miss my show is if that's the only time you can get to a polling place. make sure that voting is your highest priority on election day. besides, you can always dvr my show. you really cant' dvr the future of the country. to help you make informed decisions, watch current tv's politically direct lineup. only on current tv. so vote and vote smart. hershey's drops. a lot of hershey's happiness in little drops of milk chocolate. and cookies n creme. pure hershey's. [ voice of dennis ] ...safe driving bonus check? every six months without an accident, allstate sends a check. ok.

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[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: yep, michele bachmann >> bill: bill clinton hitting the campaign trail with president obama and general colin powell endorsing president obama this morning for re-election. they're rolling out the big guns. less than two weeks to go. good morning everybody. it is the "full court press" here on current tv and your local progressive talk radio station. we're radio. we're tv. we are your morning progressive show. letting you know what the news is of the day and giving.

>> chance to sound off in many different ways. you can give us a call. we invite your calls at 1-866-55-press. you can follow us on twitter at bpshow. you can join us on facebook. facebook.com/bill press show. it is so complicated. >> we live many lives online. >> bill: facebook.com/billpressshow. then in the chat room, current.com and join the chat room, you will be connected to all of your fellow "full court pressers" across the land. you can debate the issues. we'll talk about some of the important house and senate races around the country today. particularly where there are strong women candidates. nobody more involved than those -- in those races than emily's list. the head of emily's list, stephanie shriock. we haven't seen you in about six weeks. >> i think it was charlotte. >> i think it was. >> that's right. >> that's been a long time.

it has been a busy, busy time. >> we're just now recovering from charlotte. we're just now recovering. >> it was so good though. you on>> so exciting. emily's list could not be happier where we are with our women candidates. >> bill: our team. peter ogborn, dan henning phil backert on phones, cyprian bowldinging on the camera front. yesterday, you know, it seems like it is late for baseball but no. world series just getting started and boy did the giants get off to a tremendous start yesterday. 8-3. justin verlander tigers star pitcher just -- >> not a good night for him. >> bill: no.

choking basically you know. the star of the night was pablo sandoval. >> the panda. >> bill: the panda they call him. he's built like a panda too. >> i love his raw athleticism. >> he's amazing. >> bill: one of the biggest guys i've ever seen. >> he looks like he needs a rascal to get around the bases. he's giant. >> bill: here's john miller from knbr with the third home run of the night for the giants. >> deep center field! gone! a home run! number three for pablo sandoval! his first three at-bats in this world series. and pablo sandoval looks like the babe himself has come back to life. >> bill: babe ruth hit three home runs in one game. >> wow. >> reggie jackson and albert pujols. >> only people to hit three home runs in a world series game. >> he's in decent company.

>> bill: decent company indeed. >> impressed when the guys have all of the details of all of the history of baseball. i love watching but i can't remember those names like that. >> it is genetic. >> i think it is. i think it is genetic. i'm still trying to recuperate after the washington nationals loss. i'll be honest with you. it was hard to watch. >> bill: we are too. one of the reasons we're rooting so much for the giants over the cardinals. >> no joke. >> i hear ya. >> i drive by the nats stadium this morning and this morning i thought to myself this morning it still kind of hurts to look over there and see it. it really does. >> so close. i can't talk about it. >> bill: go, giants. 8-3 over the tigers last night. stephanie schriock is here from emily's list. barbara leigh, talk about a great woman legislator. joining us in about 20 minutes from now. we'll start with the important senate races. but first -- quick headlines

from dan. >> some of the headlines making news. out in hollywood tom cruise filing a defamation lawsuit against "life & style" magazine for reporting he's abandoned his daughter suri. the actor who split with wife katie holmes is going after the gossip rag for a cool $50 million. his attorney says the reporting is nothing but a vicious lie. he's a caring father, loves his 6-year-old girl. if he wins the lawsuit, he will give the money to charity. >> bill: all right. >> i think i've hit my quota on tom cruise news. >> bill: i have, too. he's a public figure. >> more americans would rather have a burger with president obama than mitt romney. according to an informal poll by the smash burger fast food chain. they surveyed 2100 people. 59% of people would rather have a meal with the president. as for former presidents, most would want to eat with bill clinton just ahead of abraham

lincoln, jfk and ronald reagan. >> that's quite a list. >> bill: i would like to have a meal with abraham lincoln. i was talking about there's no doubt about -- between mitt romney and barack obama which one you would rather have a beer with because with obama, you could really have a beer. [ laughter ] >> barack obama's probably the candidate that most wants to have a burger with you. the guy loves burgers. >> bill: he does. >> and beer. >> start your engines. we told you about this a couple of months ago. the texas highway with the 85-mile-per-hour speed limit opened yesterday. it is final 41 mile stretch of highway 130 between austin and san antonio meant to help alleviate traffic on interstate 35. fastest speed limit in the nation and day one seemed to go well. no speeding tickets or accidents yet. >> bill: imagine if you were on the road and going about 15 miles per hour. you would get run over. >> i grew up in montana.

for a long time, montana didn't have a speed limit. it was a little while. >> that's why you got here on time this morning. >> i drive very fast. you don't drive slow in montana. >> bill: stephanie before we get into the races where there are female candidates, strong women that you're supporting which is the mission of emily's list, i want to talk about a race where there are two men running and that is indiana. and republican candidate richard mourdock as we know, saying that if a woman gets pregnant as a result of a rape, we're not going to allow her to terminate the pregnancy because this is all part of god's plan or it is god's intention. yesterday, where you would think he would come up and say look, i'm sorry. i don't mean that. here, in fact is where he just digs it in deeper and stands by his statement. richard mourdock yesterday. >> i spoke from my heart. for speaking from my heart, from

speaking from the deepest level of my faith i cannot apologize. >> bill: no apology. >> this is -- >> bill: for women this must be like a -- just a punch in the nose. >> it is. how upset -- my staff my members, i think women across the country are just -- it is just a devastating statement. but i will say this. we're seeing it -- saw it with todd akin in missouri. you see it here in indiana. we've got joe walsh who is running against tammy duckworth who said the exact same thing in the last few weeks. paul ryan has again made this statement. >> bill: paul ryan who was -- who was the soul mate of todd akin and richard mourdock in the congress sponsoring the personhood amendment and overturned roe v. wade and take all of women's health rights away from them.

>> keep in mind also on that bill, on hr3 where they did try to redefine rape as another piece of the story where they really think there's forceable rapes and i guess they he think there's nonforcable rapes. >> legitimate. >> todd akin there's legitimate rape. rape is rape. it is all violent. the truth here -- underneath all of this because these aren't outliers, there were 200 cosponsors on the house bill. these are not outliers. this is where the republican party is. their platform has made it clear there are no exceptions. when it comes to access for abortion care for women. not rape not incest, none. the truth of the matter is they just don't trust women. they don't trust women and that's why i really believe when it comes to this election women are going to turn out and they're going to turn out in large numbers for democrats across the country for president obama, for our strong

women candidates at emily's list, for democrats across the board because we are talking about rolling the clock back decades. decades here. >> bill: i saw an article this morning that obama -- that romney is closing the gap you know, in the women's vote. i mean how? why? based on these policies. and by the way it is also mitt romney. mitt romney has endorsed the personhood amendment. he picked paul ryan as his running mate. >> the most clarification we've ever gotten from romney which is hard to get by the way the fact that he chose paul ryan. to that point. that's where he stands here. but you know, i saw that particular poll this morning. i don't believe it. the polls -- the national polls are all over the place on the gender gap. when we look at the battleground state polls when we're looking an our internal polls polls for tammy baldwin running for senate in wisconsin and claire mccaskill, looking inside the polls, we're seeing huge gender

gaps. huge gender gaps. i think at the end of the day we'll see a very, very large gender gap. >> bill: let's get through some of the races. peter, you'll follow our comments on twitter. and facebook. you mention tammy baldwin. great candidate in wisconsin. up against tommy thompson, how is it looking? >> it is looking great. >> she has continued to lead. i can't keep track. i think we've had 14 public polls in a row with tammy baldwin in the lead over tommy thompson. this is a race where a lot of folks in d.c. thought oh, there's just no way. tommy thompson -- unbeatable. >> bill: cabinet secretary. popular guy. >> bill: maybe passes -- >> not only that. here's a guy who after he left wisconsin and after he left being secretary of the health and human services, he cashed in. and he made a mint. he made a mint basically turning into a d.c. lobbyist and

pharmaceutical companies and just -- tries to come back to wisconsin saying i'm the same old tommy. well, he's not. he's not. >> bill: i saw this morning in the battleground state polls that president obama is also up three or four points in wisconsin. >> that's right. >> bill: paul ryan's home state by the way. >> that's right. >> bill: we've talked before about massachusetts. how is our favorite candidate elizabeth warren doing? >> fantastic. she's trending the right way. she's also leading. there is a new public poll that had her up five. i don't know how are you about looking at the public polls all the time. they make my heart go up and down and up and down because they're bouncing around. last night internally, the numbers look very strong, consistently moving in the right direction. i think you saw in the debates in massachusetts, she was superb. just fantastic. she has an incredible operation on the ground. so many folks are stepping up to volunteer for elizabeth. keep in mind, this is not a

battleground state for the presidential. >> bill: right. >> the presidential is trying to get all of those people probably into new hampshire to volunteer. but there's such an energy around elizabeth and i think we're going to see a great great victory. >> bill: a woman who never ran for office before and she's up against a very popular incumbent united states senator. >> that's exactly right. and when you think about it, a lot of folks have asked why isn't it just a huge victory. the truth is when she got in this race, senator scott brown his favorables were in the 60s when she got in this race. he had $10 million in the bank. no one wanted to take this guy on. and here's elizabeth warren, a force of nature. i remember sitting down with her at emily's list before she decided, talking through how is this going to -- that's what we do at emily's list, convince women to run. she was so excited about what she could do for this country and i think we're going see an opportunity for her to do just that. >> bill: it is emlittle's

list -- emily's list.org. participate and you know, join the team there to provide whatever help you can to any of these particular candidates. we mention todd akin. let's go back before we take a break, to missouri as well. this is one republicans were convinced they were going to carry. >> absolutely. absolutely. >> bill: didn't quite work out that way. >> the republican party once again chose the absolute wrong candidate. even in missouri. >> bill: tea party person they could put up. >> that's exactly right. in that republican primary, it was a whole series of pretty conservative -- it was hard to tell who was the most conservative. but todd akin as we all know now, the infamous statement about defining rape as a legitimate rape and that he clearly has no understanding of science because he think women have this magical power to -- >> shut it down. just shut it down. >> wow, that would save a lot in birth control if we could pull

that off by the way. but the truth is he just misstepped because -- it wasn't a misstep. i want to correct that. it is not what people believe. >> bill: clair claire mccaskill has an edge? >> she's looking good. leading in the polls. i think we're going to see her. >> bill: good senator. >> she is. in a tough state to be a democrat in right now. >> bill: as we said before, it is not just the white house. just as important is the senate and the house and some of the state races. emily's list is on the job! good for them. good for stephanie. we'll be right back to take your calls at 1-866-55-press. any of the races you want to ask about. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." [ male announcer ] red lobster's hitting the streets to tell real people about our new 15 under $15 menu. oh my goodness! oh my gosh this looks amazing! that's a good deal! [ man ] wow! it is so good! [ male announcer ] our new maine stays! 15 entrees under $15 building up to this. >>bill shares his views, now

it's your turn. >>i know you're going to want to weigh in on these issues. >>connect with "full court press with bill press" at facebook.com/billpressshow and on twitter at bpshow. >>i believe people are hungry for it.

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?d now to my point. (vo) jennifer granholm ... >>for every discouraged voter, there are ten angry ones taking action. trickle down does not work. in romney's world, cars get the elevator and the workers get the shaft. that is a whole bunch of bunk. the powerful may steal an election, but they can't steal democracy.

♪ yo, v.i.p. ♪ ♪ let's kick it ♪ >> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress this is the "bill press show". >> bill: all right. 26 minutes now after the hour. congresswoman barbara leigh in the next segment of the "full court press". stephanie schriock, the head of emily's list in studio with us. >> we're tweeting at bp show. find us there. colin powell announced this morning he's back on board. he's endorsed barack obama. we've got lots of comments there. kimberly says obama has colin powell and bill clinton. romney has donald trump kid rock, jenna jameson and lindsay lohan, also clint eastwood and his empty chair. so you can see where the big gun have gone there. bill says a big endorsement from a big american hero in both war and peace. >> bill: there we go. it is a big coup for president

obama. so you mentioned tammy duckworth. she's great. i love her. >> she's fantastic. >> bill: joe walsh is crazy. >> joe walsh is awful. tammy will win that house seat. we've got another great woman in hawaii by the name kelsey who will win her seat. they will be the first two women to serve in congress who have seen combat experience. how about that. ever in history. >> isn't that great. >> i look at emily's list, it is a historic year for the number of women we have running. we have these great women who are going to add to the discourse of our country. and the coming years. >> bill: while we're in hawaii mazy. >> current congresswoman going to be the next senator. she's going to win this race against former governor linda lingle who is a karl rove favorite. they love her. she just couldn't get her campaign together and mazy, by

just her network is going to win this seat. we're going to hold that democratic seat. >> bill: i think we should go out to hawaii and do a firsthand report. >> i like the way you think. >> bill: before we let you go, nevada. shelley berkley. >> this is a nail-biter. it is dead even. she has really weathered some storms over the summer but harry reid's got a good operation. so does president obama. i think at the end of the day the hispanic population and women are going to pull her over the edge. that's a pickup for the democrats. >> bill: a big union -- unions really are organizing. >> unbelievable. we know the independent women are moving. emily's list is up on television in reno right now talking to independent women voters. >> bill: stephanie from emily's list, thanks for what you're doing and thanks for coming in. >> always a pleasure. >> bill: we'll be back with barbara leigh. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

importantly to take the time to learn about each candidate's stance on the issues that matter to you. to help you make informed decisions, watch current tv's politically direct lineup. only on current tv. vote smart. our democracy depends on an informed electorate.

>> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: all right. 33 minutes after the hour. the "full court press" on thursday, october 25. brought to you today by the national education association. mitt romney out again yesterday attacking the teacher's unions, the teacher's unions are nothing but teachers banding together to fight for better schools for our kids! that's why we ought to be supporting them, not attacking them. and the nea in particular under president dennis van roekel

creating great public schools for every student in this country. for more information don't listen to mitt romney, go to their web site, nea.org. nea.org. well we have -- one of the big issues that came up in the last debate on foreign policy was afghanistan. iraq afghanistan syria libya iran but particularly afghanistan where both president obama and mitt romney said well, we'll be out by 2014. that's just the right plan. is it? we check in with one of our good friends, up early in the morning on the west coast god bless her! congresswoman barbara lee. hi congresswoman, how are you? good to talk to you. let me ask you how are things looking in california in terms of the ballot measures, the big issue i guess is governor jerry brown's initiative proposition 30 to try to balance the budget

there in california. bring in new revenue. how is it looking? >> look very good. i think that will come -- good turnout. i'm work very hard on that initiative. also on several -- that would really go to -- revisit the death penalty revisit three strikes. there are many ballot initiatives that are important. but with the governor's initiative, you know i think people will -- at the polls they'll vote for it. people want to -- equity. that initiative does it. >> bill: the other big important one i've already voted. i went down the whole list. certainly voted for the one to get rid of the death penalty but proposition -- i think it is number 32 which is -- a big no vote for me which would prohibit labor unions from using members -- having members contribute to political

campaigns. >> yeah. that's so -- unfair and unfortunate, of course. corporations still do it. so we're all banding together to vote against that. again, in california, like in so many states, it is going to be about turnout. believe you me we know what's at risk there. people, labor unions have been the path to the middle class for so many. and you start busting labor unions like the right wing wants to do, here in california, you really begin to erode the american dream. >> bill: citizens united, corporations and an individual can put up any amount of money they want. now they want to shut down the labor union. >> challenge our democracy. >> bill: indeed. >> with tea party republicans. >> bill: congresswoman you have been one of the most outspoken people from the beginning against this war in afghanistan as well as in iraq. but in afghanistan 2014, we've

already been there ten years should it take another two years to get out? >> no way. i think -- the american public is ahead of members of congress. there is no military solution in afghanistan. 2,000 of our young men and women have been killed. spent other $500 billion. we need to bring our troops home and do some nation building. i have to tell you i've been pushing for an expedited withdrawal and i wrote to the president and i got over 100 members to sign both republicans and democrats five republicans joined that letter. >> bill: wow. >> thank you mr. president. we think -- you're on the right track. and we're glad that you really understand what we need to do in afghanistan. but 2014 is much too late. we would like an expedited withdrawal. i think the n.y. times wrote

about this. -- i think "the new york times" wrote about this. it is time to get out of afghanistan in a more expedited fashion. >> bill: "the new york times" had a very powerful editorial on the 13th of october where it said time to pack up and said just as you just did, congresswoman, that two more years of combat, two more years of sending the 1% of americans serving in uniform to die and be wounded is too long. >> much too long. let me just mention every year, i offer an amendment to stop the funding and that's what we need to do. the only funding we should provide for the pentagon is for the safe and orderly withdrawal of u.s. troops and military contracts. i'm going to continue to fight for that amendment to be part of our defense policy. >> bill: let me ask you this. a key question, i guess is are the afghans ready -- if we move out, it is up to them.

are they ready to take over control of their own country? >> well, i tell you we've been there what? 11 years now? they should be. if they're not, i don't think another two years is going to ensure that they are ready to take over. i don't think we need to abandon the people of afghanistan. the women helping with reconstruct the country. quite frankly we bombed the heck out of afghanistan. and we've been there and i think, you know, it has been a war. so we have a moral responsibility to help stabilize the country, to help ensure women's rights and help, you know the country move forward. but not a military presence. so we need to come forward and really come up with a very strong and robust peace process diplomatic effort and really help to see this in a different way. bring in our regional partners and try to get the taliban back into a peace process.

there are many things we can do. but bottom line, our troops need to come home and we do not need to be there another two years. >> bill: remember, we went into afghanistan because afghanistan was kind of a no-man's-land with nobody really in charge and no effective central government. actually i guess they've never had an effective central government in afghanistan ever, ever, ever in history have they? >> no. when you look at afghanistan and when you look at the soviets and the wars that have taken place there and when you look at the culture, you know, this is another country. this is not a country that can be built in the way that the u.s. would like to see in terms of our own democracy. we certainly need to value the afghan people. want to see their government emerge and support those efforts. human rights concerns, women you know, develop that as a country but we can't insist on -- and i don't think this

administration is doing that on the u.s. government there. the taliban live there. we've got to somehow understand that. they're not going anywhere. so quite frankly we need to approach afghanistan in a way that takes into consideration what will we do, the violence there, what will exist in a regional strategy to stabilize the country and what ensures our national security which is the first and paramount concern that we should have. after over a decade of war and $500 billion that's $500 billion, a lot of that money has been stolen and has been a corrupt government. we need to invest that in jobs in our economy here at home, bill. >> bill: congresswoman barbara lee, democrat from california, representing oakland area of california. here, our guest on this, the "full court press." i want to switch for a second before we let you go and that is

some people in the romney campaign for awhile, mitt romney for awhile, was hinting that the solution in syria is to send troops into syria or to bomb syria or to send heavy weapons simply to the rebels, protestors in syria. what should we be doing in syria? >> i think the president is doing the right thing. i think you have to be very careful if you want to -- execute a military operation in syria. that could trigger some regional conflicts that we would draw ourselves in that would be very dangerous. we have to -- certainly make sure that the violence stops and the human rights concerns and all of the slaughter. the president is doing this in a way with our alliances and allies and in a way that ensures our own national security. but having a military presence there, going in, bombing syria engaging in a military conflict

there is not prudent and not in america's best interest. >> bill: just what we need. a third war in the middle east. congresswoman barbara lee, good to talk to you. we'll see you back here in washington one of these days. >> thanks a lot bill. we'll be back. after we take over the white house again and the senate. >> bill: all right, all three. we got it. the house and the senate and the white house. congresswoman barbara lee. >> keep hope alive. >> bill: keep hope alive. exactly. got to win some important initiative campaigns in california as well. it is the "full court press" on thursday, october 25. >> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress. this is the "bill press show." i like mitt romney but i'm sorry. they guy has flipped more than a crack house mattress. (vo) so we gave him a weekly show. >> thank you.

(vo) john fugelsang sees what happens. i like mitt romney but i'm sorry. they guy has flipped more than a crack house mattress. (vo) so we gave him a weekly show. >> thank you.

you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

>> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: some big breaking political news here this morning! we'll bring you right up to date here in just a second. 13 minutes before the top of the hour on the "full court press." this article caught my attention out of the palm beach post. get this. thousands of florida realtors and other professionals with state licenses are being warned of a very official-looking identity theft scam. what happens is people hold these licenses, are directed to call a toll free number and then they're asked for personal data such as driver's license information and social security numbers and if they're dumb enough to give it, their identity is stolen.

you hear a story like that. you say uh-oh here we go again. identity theft i better get some protection. life lock ultimate protection is the most comprehensive i.d. theft protection system available. even protects your bank accounts. but of course, life lock can't protect you or your bank account if you're not a member. so call now. mention press 60 for 60 risk-free days of life lock ultimate identity theft protection. if you're not happy give them a call within another 60 days, they'll give you a full refund. give them a call at 1-800-356-5967 for life lock ultimate. 1-800-356-5967. today's breaking news came in two waves. one, the obama campaign announcing that former president bill clinton is going to be hitting the campaign trail with president obama. that's going to be a lot of fun.

i'm going to have to try to get on one of those. >> you should. this is now the must-see ticket. i would rather see them than obama with bruce springsteen and that says something. >> bill: or bill clinton with bruce springsteen. president clinton joining president obama. for now, they'll be going to key states florida ohio, and pennsylvania. they want to be sure pennsylvania stays -- president obama's up 11 points in pennsylvania. they want to make sure it stays there. florida, ohio, pennsylvania with president clinton. the other huge news this morning is on the cbs morning news, colin powell, general colin powell has endorsed president obama for re-election. here he is. >> i voted for him in 2008. i plan to stick with him in 2012 and i will be voting for he and for vice president joe biden next month. >> that's an endorsement of president obama for re-election.

>> yes. >> bill: of course it is an endorsement. by the way i'm sure the general meant to say i'll be voting for him. not for he. >> i knew you were going to jump on that. >> bill: god forbid, general general, general! so why colin powell, why are you voting for president obama? talk about an endorsement. he lays it out there. >> when he took over, the country was in very, very difficult straights. we were in one of the worst recessions we have seen in recent times, close to a depression. the fiscal system was collapsing. wall street was in chaos. we had 800,000 jobs lost in that first month of the obama administration. and unemployment would peak a few months later at 10%. so we were in real trouble. the auto industry was collapsing. the housing industry was starting to collapse and we were in very difficult straights. i saw over the next several years stabilization come back in the financial community housing is now starting to pick up after

four years starting to pick up. consumer confidence is rising. and so i think generally we've come out of the dive and we're starting to gain altitude. >> bill: if i were president obama, i would -- the obama campaign, i would take that little 60-seconds from colin powell unedited and make a 60-second spot out of it and run the hell out of it between now and november 6th. >> good ad. that's a really good ad. absolutely. >> bill: so i would say this. i want to be as generous as i can. mitt romney can have lindsay lohan. i'll take bill clinton and -- he can also have donald trump. he can have donald trump. >> kid rock. >> bill: i will take colin powell and bill clinton. >> damn right! damn right. roberto tweeting at bp show at bp show, roberto says hillary clinton has already announced she's retiring as secretary of state. obama should offer the job to colin powell. in his second term.

>> bill: well, he was already secretary of state. bring him back? >> under a democrat, he already served as a republican. shake things up. >> bill: that would be great. i would go for that. >> also an interesting comment from the cray hilliard, he says obama went to krispy kreme to buy doughnuts in florida. krispy kreme is a north carolina company. coincidence? i think not. >> bill: i didn't realize that. >> krispy kreme. >> bill: president obama took time out in los angeles to go to -- to tape the jay leno show. he was asked about the comments by republican senate candidate in indiana richard mourdock that there should be no exception when it comes to a ban on abortion, no exception for rape because that's all part of god's plan. president obama -- he didn't

hesitate to take that on. >> obama: i don't know how these guys come up with these ideas. let me make a very simple proposition. rape is rape. it is a crime. >> bill: it is a crime. president obama, one more clip there. he said this shows how much is at stake for women in this election. >> obama: this is exactly why you don't want a bunch of politicians, mostly male, making decisions about women's healthcare decisions. [ cheering ] >> bill: that is one of the key issues in this campaign and a big difference between mitt romney and barack obama. and with that, i'll come back with a parting shot about all of the lies that mitt romney told in the first debate and about donald trump and richard mourdock. >> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show." now on current tv. >>only on current tv. then how'd i get this...

[ voice of dennis ] ...allstate safe driving bonus check? what is that? so weird, right? dose of politics from a fresh perspective. >>i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. >>only on current tv.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> >> announcer: the parting shot with bill press. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. on this thursday, october 25, my parting shot for today by the way, a quick hello to nancy lotus out in chicago. a new viewer. welcome, nancy. and my parting shot, leadership, that's what we're looking for in a president of the united states. leadership, that's also what we're looking for in a candidate for president of the united states. mitt romney had two chances to show some leadership yesterday and he failed both. the first test was what to do with those outrageous comments of indiana republican senate candidate richard mourdock that women should not be allowed to terminate a pregnancy resulting from rape because rape was all part of god's plan.

mitt romney had already endorsed mourdock cut a tv ad for him. did he repudiate murdoch's comments? did he withdraw his endorsement? no. he still stood by him. first test of leadership failed. second test, crazy donald trump promising $5 million to charity if only president obama would release his college transcript and his passport records. again, did mitt romney repudiate trump's comments? no he remained silent. second test of leadership failed. so mitt romney i think we could see no leader now. and never will be. tomorrow, what a great line-up. senate candidate joe domly from indiana -- donnelly from indiana. senator sherrod brown from ohio. frank from george washington university. nancy cohen from "playboy" magazine. come back tomorrow. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

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